To me meditation is one of those things that you know you should do but you always find an excuse not to do it. It’s like when you eat junk food all week but by the time you go to grab a banana, its too late, the damage is done. I seem to find meditation when I’m in desperate need, rather than implementing it everyday….
For some people, I know mediation isn’t your thing (trust me, I know the reactions I have received when I say that I meditate), but….when you have anxiety, sometimes you just need a little extra help in finding calm, and often that little bit of extra help is found in meditation. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
I found meditation about 18 months ago and my word was I amazed. For someone who found it so hard to find inner peace….I felt instant relief. It was truly beautiful. Over time I created this place in my mind, one of calm and beauty and I now know that whatever is happening at any moment in my life…I can go back to that place. When you have inner peace, you have everything. Our thoughts and feelings can be a constant battle sometimes but it’s nice to know that for a moment, this all stops.
There are so many times that I have shut mediation away and just hoped that a tv program, a YouTube video or a conversation with someone I love would push my bad thoughts and feelings away. But sometimes we have to battle our emotions head on and find peace within all its madness. So let’s get to the point, what happened when I meditated everyday for a week?
1). On one of the days it completely changed my day from a bad one to a good one– I was having a rubbish morning (it was a Monday to be fair), I was worrying about things, I felt very anxious and I just thought in general…today’s gonna be a bad day. But instead of letting these bad emotions take over me, I spent 5 minutes meditating (YES 5 minutes, that’s it). Even from just 5 minutes, I felt an instant calm, my tension lifted off my shoulders and my worries seemed further away than ever. After that, I had a very productive, calm and all round great day.
2). I didn’t want it to end- One evening when meditating, I found myself thinking…I really don’t want this to end. It’s nice to escape from life sometimes. You forget about the emails you have sat waiting, or the work you are yet to do. You forget about everything but your breathing, the most natural thing to do as a human.
3). I could control my negative emotions more easily- I experience intrusive thoughts on a daily basis, but as soon as these arose this week, I meditated and it stopped me from reacting negatively. It allows you to realize that you don’t have to panic, everything is okay and you are not in danger! In fact, after a couple of days of meditating my intrusive thoughts had decreased. It’s also important to remember that not only does meditation benefit us mentally but it benefits us physically too. If you ever suffer from chest pains, tension in the body or an increased heart rate, meditation can really help to minimize this.
Meditation has been shown to reduce symptoms in anxiety, depression, OCD and stress. In fact, research has shown that over time, daily meditation can lead to physical changes in the brain…and good ones!
4). I felt more positive- Eventually, I began to feel a lot more positive about things. Before meditating it can feel like so much is going on and you can’t take control…but meditation stops this urgency. You realize that whatever you were worrying about or ruminating about, wasn’t that important anyway. It helps you to become a little more rational.
For me, my mind is like a constant roundabout and meditation allows me to step off for a minute and slow it down. Now I’m not saying that meditation has made me constantly positive and non reactive this week, because it hasn’t. I’ve still had negative moments and still reacted angrily to things that I maybe shouldn’t have. But what this week HAS done, is prevented me from falling into rabbit holes. When I felt negative, the meditation helped me to change that around, or when I felt anxious, meditation helped me to dismiss it. Meditation isn’t a cure but it helps you to bring calm to your life, it helps you to be less reactive overtime and its helps you to keep a good and stable mental well-being.
My question to you is…what on earth have you got to lose? Stop with the excuses and put yourself first. Don’t meditate tomorrow…DO IT TODAY! Thanks so much for reading guys, keep smiling, keep laughing and keep being YOU!
Love your mind 